. >> house speaker john boehner recently told "the wall street journal" that the sequester, quote, is as much leverage as we're going to get. but does the gop actually stand to lose more than it gains? i'm joined by "washington post" columnist, and msnbc policy analyst, ezra klein, who has written about this. good morning, ezra. >> good morning. >> in one of your columns, you wrote that republicans are wrong to think that the sequester gives them leverage. what's your reasoning? >> it's just become a somewhat bizarre conversation. look, you have to go back. the sequester, it's a very weird, kind of boring word. it comes out of the debt ceiling deal in 2011 and it was the backup to the supercommittee. and way it was designed, it was originally supposed to be half taxes and half spending cuts. so both sides would be terrified of letting it happen, and because they were so terrified of letting it happen, they would come to a deal. the point of the sequester was to get the two sides to a deal. but republicans wouldn't allow tax increases, even in the sequester. and so they made this weird